Hunt to give British Medical Association six weeks to negotiate or face seven-day contract

The Health Secretary is to challenge the British Medical Association (BMA) by offering it six weeks to negotiate on changes for hospital consultants and junior doctors, or face a new seven-day contract.

Jeremy Hunt's speech called, The Conservatives, the true party of the NHS, at the King's Fund in London suggests that the BMA's position may be contributing to 6,000 deaths a year.

There is an expectation within government that the majority of hospital doctors to be on seven-day contracts by the end of the Parliament.

It wants to remove the ability to opt out from weekend and evening working from consultants' contracts by April 2017.

In the speech, which sets out the direction of NHS reform for the next 25 years, Mr Hunt is expected to say:

The Health Secretary claims that patient care and staff morale have increased in hospitals such as the Salford Royal and Northumbria which already work a seven-day system.

Mr Hunt will also pledge a cut back in the lucrative high-earning overtime payments that consultants can get.